Review: Supertooth Disco Bluetooth speaker

I’ve never bothered with a big home stereo system. I have nice speakers on my computer, and typically if I am listening to music I am in there. The listening experience is somewhat lessened when I am doing something from across the house, however, and the music needs to travel through several walls. I often find myself using my phone as a small stereo, though I have yet to find a phone that is capable of delivering a quality bass kick when necessary. So, in an attempt to fix my need for quality mobile music I took a look at the Supertooth Disco, a Bluetooth stereo speaker.

Supertooth has a history of making curious little Bluetooth accessories for niche markets. They focus on making the most features available for the widest variety of devices. The Disco Bluetooth speaker is no exception to this. The speaker will connect to just about any Bluetooth device that transmits music, and it supports A2DP with controls on the front of the speaker. I tested it on my Galaxy Nexus using Play Music, and all of the controls worked seamlessly.

There is a 3.5mm jack if you want to plug straight in, but when you are using Bluetooth you’ll get about 15-20 feet of wireless connection before there’s a quality difference. The speaker is lightweight and sturdy enough that you can set it just about anywhere and it will be perfectly safe. The Disco comes with a travel case that looks like you can use the speaker while inside it, but the sound is instantly muffled.

The Disco is capable of delivering a great sound, and is loud enough to enjoy in a single room or outside. The 12W internal subwoofer delivers plenty of bass on the standard settings, but at the bottom of the control dial you’ll find a bass button which dramatically increases how much bass the speaker is outputting. Unless you really need some bass, you probably will be better off leaving that feature disabled. When you get towards the louder end of the control dial, most sounds become distorted and scratchy, especially if the volume on whatever you are using to deliver the music is turned all the way up as well. At half power, this speaker is more than capable of delivering enough quality sound to fill a room and your battery will last longer that way as well.

The built-in NIMH battery will keep the party going for about 8 hours at a reasonable volume, but if you crank it to 11 you’ll cut that battery life just about in half. If you plug it in, the speaker will be fully charged in about 3 hours, but the lack of a battery indicator of any kind makes measuring this kind of difficult especially if you leave the speaker on standby for awhile (Supertooth claims you can leave the device idle for 500 hours).

For just over $100 at most online retailers, the Supertooth Disco is ideal for anyone who needs higher quality music, and the speaker is versatile enough that you can either keep it plugged in a single room or carry it with you anywhere you want to listen to music. The only real downside to this device is the lack of a battery indicator other than the red light that lets you know when the battery is almost dead and green when it is fully charged. Considering how long the battery is capable of lasting if it is used at a reasonable volume, that is a pretty small complaint for a powerful little speaker.